Editing Tel Hazor (section)

==Chronology==
This table lists the [[strata]] (layers) of ruined settlements that accumulated to form Tel Hazor according to Hazor archeologist [[Sharon Zuckerman]]. The shades represent the different archeological periods: [[Bronze Age]], [[Iron Age]], [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian period]] and [[Hellenistic period]]. Some layers are associated with the content of contemporary historical sources.<ref name=":0" />
{| class="wikitable" |-
!Fixed date (BCE)
!Archeological period
!Stratum (layer) – Upper City
!Stratum (layer) – Lower City
!Excavation results
!Historical references
|-
|- bgcolor="#fff2e6"
|28th century||Early Bronze Age III–II
|XXI|| ||Houses||
|- bgcolor="#fff2e6"
|27th century <br />24th century||Early Bronze Age III
|XX–XIX|| ||Houses and a monumental structure (possibly a palace or other central building)||
|- bgcolor="#ffe5cc"
|22nd century <br />21st century||Middle Bronze Age I/Intermediate Bronze Age
|XVIII|| ||Houses||
|- bgcolor="#ffd7b3"
|18th century||Middle Bronze Age IIA–B
|Pre XVII|| ||Burials and structures||[[Execration texts|Egyptian Execration Texts]]
|- bgcolor="#ffd7b3"
|18th century 17th century||Middle Bronze Age IIB
|XVII||4||Erection of the earthen rampart of the Lower City||[[Mari, Syria#Excavations and archive|Mari archive]]
|- bgcolor="#ffd7b3"
|17th century 16th century||Middle Bronze Age IIB
|XVI||3||Both Upper and Lower Cities are settled.||
|- bgcolor="#ffc999"
|15th century||Late Bronze Age I
|XV||2||Both Upper and Lower Cities are settled.||[[Annals of Thutmose III]]
|- bgcolor="#ffc999"
|14th century||Late Bronze Age II
|XIV||1b||Both Upper and Lower Cities are settled.||[[Amarna letters]]
|- bgcolor="#ffc999"
|13th century||Late Bronze Age II
|XIII||1a||Both Upper and Lower Cities are settled.||[[Papyrus Anastasi I]]
|- bgcolor="#ccdcff"
|11th century||Iron Age I
|XII–XI|| ||pits and meager architecture||
|- bgcolor="#b3cbff"
| mid 10th century <br />early 9th century||Iron Age IIA
|X–IX|| ||six-chambered gate, casemate wall, domestic structures||[[United Kingdom of Israel]] (possibly under [[Solomon]])
|- bgcolor="#b3cbff"
|9th century||Iron Age IIA–B
|VIII–VII|| ||casemate wall still used, administrative structures and domestic units||[[Northern Kingdom of Israel]] ([[Omri dynasty]])
|- bgcolor="#b3cbff"
|8th century||Iron Age IIC
|VI–V|| ||casemate wall still used, administrative structures and domestic units||Northern Kingdom of Israel (from under [[Jeroboam II]] to the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Assyrian]] destruction by [[Tiglath-pileser III]]
|- bgcolor="#b3cbff"
|8th century ||Iron Age IIC
|IV|| ||sporadic settlement||post–Assyrian destruction; settlement (possibly [[Israelite]])
|- bgcolor="#b3cbff"
|7th century||Iron Age IIC (Assyrian)
|III|| ||governmental structures on and around the tell||
|- bgcolor="#ffffb3"
|5th century <br />4th century||Persian
|II|| ||citadel, tombs||
|- bgcolor="#ffccf2"
|3rd century <br />1st century||Hellenistic
|I|| ||citadel||
|}

In a recent article (2021), [[Israel Finkelstein]], quoting his past articles regarding stratum X in Tel Hazor (shown in the table above), commonly attributed to Solomon, states:<ref>Finkelstein, Israel, (2021). [https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/5098647#page=36 "Israel and Aram: Reflections on their Border"], in In Search for Aram and Israel: politics, culture, and identity, pp. 17–36.</ref> {{blockquote|"In past articles I proposed identifying Omride architecture. ... I therefore see no alternative to the Omride identity of Hazor X..."}}

Finkelstein's Low Chronology is disputed by other archaeologists, such as [[William G. Dever]], who considers that although the "larger-than-life" portrait of the Bible is exaggerated, Judah was a centralized kingdom around 10th century BCE and likely ruled by Solomon.<ref>Dever, William G. (2021). [https://jjar.huji.ac.il/publications/solomon-scripture-and-science-rise-judahite-state-10th-century-bce «Solomon, Scripture, and Science: The Rise of the Judahite State in the 10th Century BCE»]. ''Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology'' '''1''': 102-125.</ref> The conventional date of stratum X in the 10th century is also supported by Amnon Ben-Tor and Shlomit Bechar, the chief excavators at the site.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Hazor: Canaanite metropolis, Israelite city |last=Ben-Tor |first=Amnon |publisher=Israel Exploration Society |year=2016 |isbn=978-965-221-101-9 |pages=132–146 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bS-JDAEACAAJ |oclc=945028849}}</ref> A more nuanced position is held by [[Avraham Faust]] et al. (2021), who consider the chronological difference between Finkelstein and his opponents was already narrowed when he agreed that "not only the Iron Age IIA, but perhaps even the late Iron Age IIA, started already in the 10th century", but that most scholars have instead adopted various versions of the traditional, or modified, chronology.<ref>Faust, Avraham; Garfinkel, Yosef; Mumcuoglu, Madeleine (2021). [https://jjar.huji.ac.il/publications/study-10th-century-bce-early-21st-century-ce-overview «The Study of the 10th Century BCE in the Early 21st Century CE: An Overview»]. ''[[Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology]]'' 1, '''p. 3:''' "The sophisticated methods of data collection and analysis that resulted from the debate significantly narrowed the chronological gap between the schools, leading most scholars to follow various versions of the traditional, or modified, chronology (e.g., Stager 2003; Mazar 2011; Katz and Faust 2014; Garfinkel et al. 2015; 2019; Dever 2017; Faust and Sapir 2018; Ortiz 2018; Master 2019), and even Finkelstein raised his chronology dramatically, agreeing that not only the Iron Age IIA, but perhaps even the late Iron Age IIA, started already in the 10th century BCE (e.g., Finkelstein and Piasetzky 2011: 51; Kleiman et al. 2019: 534-535)."</ref>

Among scholars who support Finkelstein's Low chronology, regarding Tel Hazor's stratum X, is Merja Alanne, which in her (2017) Doctoral dissertation, quoting late Dr. Orna Zimhoni's work (1997), writes:<ref>Alanne, Merja, (2017). [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/84363234.pdf Tel Dan: Biblical Dan An Archaeological and Biblical Study of the City of Dan from the Iron Age II to the Hellenistic Period], University of Helsinki, p. 211.</ref> {{blockquote|"Unlike Zarzegi-Peleg, Zimhoni leans towards the lower chronology and dates Megiddo VA-IVB to the 9th century, following the date of the pottery from the Jezreel enclosure. Accordingly, Hazor X−IX would also be dated to the same century."}}

However, other scholars such as Thomas E. Levy and Daniel Frese have noted that the evidence of the pottery from Jezreel is insufficient to support the Low chronology:<ref>{{cite book |title=Historical Biblical Archaeology and the Future: The New Pragmatism |last1=Levy |first1=Thomas E. |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-134-93746-2 |pages=190 |last2=Frese |first2=Daniel A. |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Thomas Evan |chapter=The Four Pillars of the Iron Age Low Chronology |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NLbsCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA187}}</ref> {{blockquote|"A more serious objection, made by many researchers, is that the pottery of the Iron Age IIA is basically the same for much of the 10th and 9th centuries (Ben-Tor and Ben-Ami 1998: 30; Halpern 2000: 102; Mazar and Carmi 2001: 1340; Mazar 2005: 19; Dever 2005: 75-76; Mazar 2007: 147-48). Thus, the Jezreel compound and Megiddo VA-IVB might have the same pottery, but that does not mean they both represent the 9th century."}}